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The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) was originally established as the Institute for Defence Policy by Dr Jakkie Cilliers, and Mr PB Mertz in 1991 and has offices in Pretoria, Cape Town, Nairobi and Addis Ababa.
The ISS is a regional research institute operating across sub-Saharan Africa. It is registered as a non-profit trust in South Africa, a research association in Ethiopia and as a company limited by guarantee with no share capital in Kenya.
As a leading African human security research institution, the Institute is guided by a broad approach to security reflective of the changing nature and origin of threats to human development. This approach is reflected by the term human security – which, transcending a narrow focus on traditional state-centric national security concerns - brings additional areas of focus such as human rights, good governance (political and economic), personal and community security (crime), justice, refugee movements and internal displacement, food security, sustainable livelihoods, etc. If human development is freedom from want (a process widening the range of people’s choices), human security can be understood as the ability to pursue those choices in a safe and equitable environment. Practically this reflects the conviction that African development requires a democratic context and a vibrant civil society.
The ability (and capacity) to engage the international debate on human security issues from the region is an important component of our work and we therefore seek to inform the debate with an African perspective. In this sense our long-term goal is to establish an African strategic studies institute able to compete and engage with the best internationally on those issues pertinent to continental security issues. Staff quality is therefore a key recruitment criterion.
In general our activities have moved towards capacity building at a senior level as an increasing component of our engagement. In this sense, we strengthen our expert workshop series and assistance with policy development and the monitoring of policy implementation as integral parts of capacity building. The Institute also engages on a collaborative basis with state institutions at national, regional and continental levels in Africa.
Towards the end of 2005 the ISS became engaged in a particular effort to improve its contribution to the building of capacity of young South African researchers from a previously disadvantaged background through an internship programme.
In 2005 and 2006, the ISS expanded into Africa by establishing offices in Addis Ababa and Nairobi. Planning is under way to establish an office in Abidjan to facilitate the ISS's reach into Francophone West Africa.
Three characteristics are discernable in the work of the Institute in 2007 and 2008.
The first is an increased reliance on collaboration with government and intergovernmental partners (such as the Southern African Police Chiefs Cooperating Organisation (SARPCCO), the Eastern African Police Chiefs Cooperating Organisation (EAPCCO), the Regional Centre for Small Arms (RECSA), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Mozambique Police Academy (ACIPOL) and the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade Independent Coordination Mechanism (EASBRICOM).
The second is civil society engagement as part of networks such as the African Human Security Initiative (AHSI), the African Research Network on Terrorism (ARCNET), and various others. In some cases, such as the African Peace Support Trainers Association (APSTA) for which the Institute serves as secretariat, these partnerships cover both government and civil society organizations.
A third is a move towards implementation support. Informed by the capacity constraints evident across the continent, our work aims to support implementation in a material manner, most evident in programmes such as IGAD Capacity Building Programme Against Terrorism (ICPAT), Mifugo (countering cattle rustling in Eastern Africa) and ACIPOL (Mozamibique Police Academy). As a result the Institute combines the characteristics of a traditional independent think-tank at the strategic/policy level with those of a technical assistance agency that applies its analysis in practical projects. In many respects this is a novel approach as it aims to combine and manage the tension between independent research and a collaborative approach.
